


A good lesson to learn

by TeddyTR



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Badass!Charles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-12
Updated: 2011-10-12
Packaged: 2017-11-28 05:01:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeddyTR/pseuds/TeddyTR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles's expression darkened. No, not simply darkened. It became cold. Erik's stomach made an unpleasant twist. He couldn't recall a time when he saw the telepath looking like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A good lesson to learn

**Author's Note:**

> As I promised, I shall give you badass!Charles. Enjoy him as much as I did!

Erik was defenseless against the small sighs of Charles, who walked quietly by his side. It was already late, sky dark, air chilly. After the fourth sad huff of breath, despite of himself, Erik decided it’s time to try out some cheering up tactics or else he would just break and do something ridiculous.

 

“Come on, Charles, he’s only one mutant. We can’t have everyone happily join us.”

 

“I know, I know. But his lack of trust, it’s exactly because he had to manage alone all his life. We could help him.”

 

“He doesn’t want that. We have to respect his decision. And you’ve got still hundreds to save, right?”

 

“Yes… You know, I was hoping I could-“Charles halted abruptly, eyes growing wide and distant. Erik knew the meaning of this kind of look. He had seen it several times by then. Charles ‘heard’ something.

 

“What is it?” He asked cautiously. Charles didn’t usually ‘tune on’ thoughts randomly. Only emotionally strong ones caught his attention like that. And emotionally strong mostly meant trouble.

 

Mere seconds later Charles’s expression darkened. No, not simply darkened. It became _cold_. Erik’s stomach made an unpleasant twist. He couldn’t recall a time when he saw the telepath looking like that. Something was utterly wrong.

 

“Charles?”The telepath’s head snapped up at him and then at the lane on their right.

 

“I’ll be back in a minute, Erik.” With that he turned to the lane and took larger steps than usual.

 

“Like I would let you go alone.” Erik muttered and followed.

 

Within half a minute, they reached a corner and Charles spoke before they could even see the ones on the other side of the building.

 

“Gentlemen!” He practically bellowed with fake cheerfulness. There were four figures; three big, troublesome-looking men cornered a skinnier in front of the brick wall. All eyes darted to Charles instantly. Erik instinctively reached out for the metal, but a voice stopped him.

 

 _Easy, Erik. It’s okay._ Charles sounded cool as ice. Erik shivered. Just what the hell was going on?

 

“Whaddya want?” One of the men blurted roughly. Charles actually s _miled_ at him. It was not the kind of smile Erik was accustomed to though.

 

“Oh, I just accidentally overheard you chaps having fun and I was wondering if I could join you.” The smaller man let out a shaky breath as all gorillas turned from him towards Charles.

 

“Are you askin’ for trouble, little crap? You should get the hell out o’ here until you can.”

 

“Not interested in playing with me? That’s a shame. I expected more from you, _Jason._ ” The guy with red hair behind his two brute friends paled.

 

“You know me?”

 

“Yes, I know you well enough. Poor little Jason, not very bright, always following alpha bucks around. What would your mummy say if she saw you? Oh, wait, right, I’m sorry. Mummy wouldn’t care, because usually she’s too drunk to even recognize her own son.”

 

‘Little Jason’ stood petrified, trying and failing to comprehend the situation.

 

“I’ll beat the crap out of you, creepish bastard!” The blonde one growled on the right, but his movement stopped halfway.

 

“You would like that, wouldn’t you, ‘Daddy-O’. Or do you prefer Desmond after all? I know you like it rough. You’re so _big_ and _manly._ Just for the record, the boy, Mark, you kept beating up in high school. You should have told him that you merely wanted a good shag. Maybe he liked tough rides too.” The one called Desmond snarled, face turning purple.

 

“YOU-“

 

“Say what, Desmond? You’re afraid of insects? Not so manly after all…” The blonde’s eyes widened as he stared at his own skin. With a scream he started to scratch himself, shouting ‘get them out’ over and over again.

 

The third man was about to say something. Charles simply stared at him. After several seconds, the brute started to shake.

 

“Stop it.” He whimpered and backed away from Charles. “I said, stop it!” He fell on his knees and clutched his head.

 

Erik, together with the skinny guy, watched the scene astonished. Of course he knew Charles was powerful and he could do some nasty tricks, but never before he had seen the telepath in real action. On one hand, it was quite amazing. On the other, it was freaking him out.

 

“Now.” Charles spoke again, voice low and even. “Hope all of us learnt the lesson. You may want to leave…”

 

The three men ran like crazy. Erik couldn’t blame them.

 

Charles turned to the smaller man and winced at the way he took two steps back.

 

“I’m sorry if I’ve frightened you.” The usual soft and comforting Charles-voice was back. “I see, so you’d rather forget about tonight’s events. Understandable. Very well, then.”

 

The man’s face became empty for a second, and then he stood and walked past by them like nothing happened. Charles watched him go and sighed.

 

“We should get going too.” He said and Erik followed in silence, still under the influence of what he had just seen.

 

By the time Erik regained his senses, they were back at the motel. Charles pretended to read a paper, but he hadn’t turned the page once. Erik cleared his throat.

 

“Charles, um-“

 

“Yes, Erik it is.” Charles put down the paper and at the other man’s surprised expression, he added. “It’s alright to ask whatever you would like to know.”

 

“Why did you bother? I mean you could just send them away without getting a sole step closer. But you _wanted_ to do it face to face.”

 

“Yes, well…” Charles fidgeted on the bed a bit embarrassed. “I caught what they intended to do and I… I got angry.”

 

Erik tilted his head. Charles Xavier’s angry. He put the pictures together with that sentence.  That was extremely accurate and creepy in the same time.

 

“There’s more, isn’t it. Your concentration is flawless, Charles. I’ve never seen you lashing out like this.”

 

Charles stared at him for a while, clearly deciding whether he should answer or not. He chose to do so in the end.

 

“Back in high school, when my power was novel to me, I couldn’t block thoughts directed at me. I had some… not so pleasant experience with bullying.”

 

Erik frowned. “A little more detail?”

 

“I went to an all-boys school, Erik.”

 

Erik felt a snarl breaking through his lips. He didn’t like the implied idea behind that sentence at all.

 

“I could never conceit what was it that others found so attractive about me…”

 

Erik almost blurted out ‘presumably everything’. He was glad he managed to swallow it back. He blushed slightly anyway.

 

“…but I got quite a lot attention. Mere thoughts, but… Just imagine hearing _everything_ about others’ fantasies. Not to mention that my power was newborn and raw so sometimes I couldn’t… defend myself like I can now.”

 

It was Erik’s time to go berserk. Fury burned up so quickly and intensely that it surprised even himself. Charles winced, obviously getting a share of the unquestionably powerful emotion.

 

“No, Erik, nothing like _that_. Luckily, my defense improved periodically when I was in an ‘aggravating’ situation so nothing irrevocable happened.”

 

“Thanks, I feel reassured now.” Erik grunted with a fair amount of sarcasm.

 

“Really, it could have been worse. For some other boys, it was… I just can’t help myself when I see a situation like that. Of course I knew, even back then, that most of the bullies had hardships at life as the reason of their behavior, but sometimes… sometimes I just couldn’t care. It seems like this kind of thing still has its effect on me.”

 

“’Effect’ is a mild way of putting it.” Erik teased, although if it was for him, all men who had only one inappropriate thought about Charles would choke on their own lungs. The only problem was that he would need to include himself…

 

“I’m not proud of it. Aggression is never a good solution.”

 

“But sometimes it feels damn good.”

 

Charles chuckled. “I have to admit that.”

 

“It’s okay until you don’t want to bring the world down.”

 

“Look who’s talking.”

 

“Very funny.”

 

The mood finally lifted for the rest of the night. They played some matches of chess before going to bed. While staring up at the ceiling, Erik was thinking about the new side of Charles he got to know. The fact that even he had bad moments was comforting. Amusing, even. But if, by some weird twist of fate, they ended up as enemies, Erik was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly at night anymore…

 


End file.
